Capital Weather Gang Archive: Climate Change

Last Sunday, the Washington Post ran a provocative essay on the front page of the "Outlook" section by climate activist Mike Tidwell, executive director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. In it, Tidwell reveals the lengths to which he is going to prepare himself and his family for what he sees as the now inevitable consequences of climate change. For example, he is stockpiling food, testing guns, and invested in an emergency generator - all in an effort to stave off social unrest that he sees coming down the pike due to climate change-related extreme weather events.
The essay is surprising - and completely wrong - in two main respects.

A day after the Union of Concern Scientists (UCS) - a non-profit environmental group - announced "Climate Change Makes Major Snowstorms More Likely", USA Today's Weather Editor Doyle Rice published an interesting story on possible linkages between U.S. snowstorms and global warming. Unfortunately, however, the headline USA Today chose to accompany the story "Scientists: Global warming to blame for big U.S. snowstorms" is scientifically dubious and grossly misleading.

One of the areas where the science is advancing, and the uncertainties remain large, fascinates me more than the rest: the relationship between long-term climate change and extreme weather events, such as heavy rainfall and snowstorms, hurricanes and tornadoes.

Accuweather's chief long range forecaster, Joe Bastardi, resigned from the company yesterday. Bastardi, who produced popular columns and videos on AccuWeather's subscription website "AccuWeather Pro", was the lead forecaster for the company's seasonal forecasts and hurricane outlooks. He also frequently appeared as a weather and climate commentator on Fox News